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As has been said many times in this Parliament, the Government is absolutely committed to doing all that is necessary to bring an end to the culture of lawlessness, intimidation and bullying in the politics industry.

The passage of these bills into law will ensure that political work is carried out fairly, efficiently, lawfully, productively for all Australians.

Abbott said the problem was not individual parliamentarians but the system of entitlements itself. That is a bit like blaming the bank for lax security rather than the thieves for stealing the money. Certainly capitalist politicians are corrupt. However the whole capitalist system is corrupt. Mass struggle against it in all its manifestations is the answer.

Allegations of bribery have long plagued FIFA, especially since its controversial decision to grant Qatar the 2022 World Cup. But much worse is the plight of South Asian migrant workers brought in to build the stadium infrastructure there: Since 2010, more than 1,200 migrant workers have died in Qatar under hazardous working conditions, and a 2013 Guardian investigation found that at least 4,000 total are projected to die before the 2022 World Cup even starts.

The shocking revelations of late about politicians in Australia are not an aberration. They would be replicated in parliament after parliament across the country and the globe, if we investigated them. The whole system is rotten. It produces rotten politicians to do the bidding of rotting capital.

Let me leave you with this thought. There are even bigger crimes politicians commit than being open for business, bad enough as that is. We’ll see Hockey on budget night send many many more people into poverty so capital can luxuriate. That is the crime we should be fighting against now as well.

The Abbott government has taken the gloves off and will wage war on workers and unions. Why are our trade union leaders still playing by Marquis of Queensbury rules? Only a massive fight will force the class warmongers back into their trenches.

So to summarise, rorters on the system either reflect the drive for personal enrichment or profit that the system gives number one priority too. But the system itself is corrupt in the sense that it only exists by exploiting workers and not rewarding the working class for the value it produces.

The solution to corruption is a democratic society in which production is organised by the vast majority of people, we workers, the people who produce the wealth and will do so for the benefit of that vast majority, that is to satisfy human need, not to make a profit. That my friends is socialism.

Big business, politicians, even sports people are ripping off the system with their corruption. Tony Abbott’s expense rorts are not an aberration. Corruption is part and parcel of capitalism and a consequence of the exploitation of workers. Only by overthrowing the ruling class can we abolish the corruption of the system and its rulers and […]

Of course, any controls we can put on the rich and powerful—to curtail their ability to soar ever higher into the stratosphere of wealth—are a good thing. These are the same people who tell us that we have to swallow austerity in order to pay their bills.

But bank scandals, corruption and crisis will not be stopped by regulation. They are built in to the system, a system rooted in the drive for ever greater profits. This is how capitalism works.